How it works
The Pulse Score is a 0–100 number that says how a business stands among all the Alaska businesses we track, using every public rating platform we can read. Here is exactly how it's made, in plain language.
Every week we record the current rating and review count for each Alaska business on Google, and monthly on Yelp, TripAdvisor, OpenTable and DoorDash. We keep every reading, dated, so we can show movement over time rather than a single snapshot. We read ratings and counts only: we do not store or republish review text.
The set of businesses comes from the state's own business license records, not from what a platform happens to list. Platforms add information to a business we already know exists; they never create one. That is why a food truck in Nome is here and a ghost listing with no license behind it is not.
Platforms don't agree with each other. The average Alaska business rates about 4.4 on Google, 4.5 on TripAdvisor, 4.0 on Yelp and 4.5 on DoorDash. So a 4.3 is above average on Yelp and below average on Google, and any score that treats them as the same number would be wrong.
For each platform we first steady the rating by how many reviews sit behind it: a listing with four reviews is pulled toward that platform's statewide average, a listing with four hundred is trusted as it stands. Then we place the steadied rating on that platform's Alaska curve. The result for each platform is a standing from 0 to 100 that means the same thing no matter which platform it came from.
The platform standings are averaged with more weight on the platforms where the business has more reviews, on a scale where each tenfold increase in reviews earns one more unit of weight. Two hundred Google reviews and twelve Yelp reviews produce a score that leans on Google without ignoring Yelp.
The same combination is run twice more: once using only the sit-down platforms (Google, Yelp, TripAdvisor, OpenTable) for the Dine-in score, and once using only the delivery platforms (DoorDash today, others as they're added) for the Take-out score. A take-out score appears only when there is enough delivery history to be fair.
The headline number is graded so that the statewide median lands in the mid-60s and the top few percent sit above 90. Alongside it, a claimed business sees how it ranks among businesses in its city and in its category statewide, the total reviews we've read for it, and how many reviews it has added since we began tracking.
We don't publish scores. A business's number is shown only to the people who run it. The public lookup confirms a business is tracked and nothing more. When Pulse recognizes businesses publicly, it names the top; there is no bottom list.
We don't republish anyone's ratings. Sources are cited by name. Their star ratings and reviews stay on their own sites.
We don't count reviews we can't read. Platforms that show a rating but not a review count, or neither, are watched but not scored, because there's no way to weigh them fairly.
We don't take anything but public data. Nothing about a business's sales, staff, equipment or vendors enters the score, and claiming a business never puts anyone on a sales list.
Because it isn't your Google rating. It's your standing across every platform we read, each graded on its own Alaska curve and weighted by how many reviews sit behind it. A 4.7 on Google is the statewide average for coffee, so it lands near the middle, not the top.
No. We name the sources that feed your score and count the reviews we read, but each platform's own rating stays on that platform. Pulse is the combined picture, not a mirror of theirs.
No. A score is visible only to people who have claimed the business and been verified. The public lookup shows only that a business is tracked, its city and category, and how many sources feed it.
Google readings are taken weekly; the other platforms monthly. Your page always shows the latest reading and the date it was taken, and claimed businesses get an email when the month's number is in.
Tell us when you claim it and we merge them, so every review lands on the one record. Duplicate listings are common in Alaska and we're working through them statewide.
Founding businesses get their first year free, a $100 value. After that, Pulse for Business is $100 a year for the score, the breakdowns, the standing and the monthly report. We'll tell you before anything is charged, and the public lookup is free for everyone.
Pulse is built in Anchorage by people who work with Alaska restaurants and shops every day. The score is computed only from public ratings and review counts; nothing about your sales, your processor or your equipment goes into it, and claiming your business never puts you on a sales list.